INDORE: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Waris Pathan's face was blackened by a man in Madhya Pradesh's Indore on Tuesday, an official said.
The incident took place when Pathan, the party's national spokesperson and former MLA from Mumbai's Byculla, visited a dargah in Khajrana area of the city to offer prayers, it was stated.
The role of a local identified as Saddam (32) is being probed in the incident, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sampat Upadhyay said.
Saddam has not been arrested as yet and the motive behind the act was being ascertained, he said.
According to the police, Saddam had soot from a tea pot in his hands and as soon as Pathan came out of the dargah, he smeared it on the AIMIM leader's face after garlanding him.
Expressing anger over the incident, the AIMIM's state unit working president Dr Naeem Ansari said that his party has complained to the Khajrana police and demanded an investigation.
Pathan had arrived in the city during the day to participate in the party's organisational activities, Ansari said.